MY GLASSES ARE NOWHERE to be found. Neither are my pants,
or my bed, or anything that resembles my apartment.
It seems I really have been kidnapped by dragons.
So far no one's hurting me, so I try to keep my panic to a
minimum. I think the fact that I was drugged helps, because
I'm not feeling like freaking out. I'm just mostly really tired
and drained. Zoe and Theodora help me out of my "pod" and
wrap me in yet another furry blanket. They lead me nearby
where I sit on the floor amidst a bunch of other blankets. "Wait
here," Theodora tells me with a pat on my shoulder.
Like I'm going anywhere? I can't even see two feet in front of
me.
I try not to stare as some big blue guy approaches and offers
me a waterskin and a pouch of something that feels like
granola. "Eat," he tells me in a gruff, accented voice, and then
walks away a few feet. I'm pretty sure I saw a tail, which is
alarming. I shove a handful of food into my mouth and crunch
down, watching everyone around me. There are a lot of coloured
guys, and what's weird is that they don't seem to be wearing
much clothing…. It's strange, because I'm utterly freezing despite the layers of blankets on my body, and the contents of the waterskin they gave me are
slushy with ice. Maybe I've caught a cold. That would explain
my exhaustion and confusion.
I exhale deeply and watch my breath frost into a cloud in front
of my face.
Okay, maybe I'm not sick.
"Is it winter?" I ask. "I thought it was summer." At least, it
was back home.
"Suh-mer is not here. She is back with the others," the blue
alien tells me, and then moves away a few feet to watch a blur
in the distance.
Oooookay. Now I'm really confused. I take a sip of icy water
and nod as if it all makes sense to me and watch as everyone
moves around. They're clustered around a dark blob and
talking in low voices. A moment later, someone screams
loudly. Really loudly. I jump in my seat and nearly spill my
drink.
"It's okay!" Theodora calls out. "Please don't be scared!
Someone grab her before she runs away!"
There's a big haze of movement and then the screamer lets out
another choked sob before going silent. I stare, eyes wide, and
try not to panic.
"Well, that went well," Zoe says dryly. "I feel like we need to
practice our 'We're dragons' speech a bit more. Like maybe we
don't open up with 'Hi, we're dragons.'"
"Let me handle this next one," Theodora tells her firmly. "Go sit
her down with her friend."
The "friend" must be me. Is this my roommate Nessa, then?
Maybe she'll know what's going on. A few moments later, Zoe
brings another fur-wrapped person to come and sit next to me
in the blankets. This one is sniffling and crying, and I get a
sense of impatience from Zoe before she heads off to help
again. Another red guy steps in and offers the girl next to me
her own snacks and then moves away once more.
"Hi," I whisper to the new girl, once it's clear that she's not
Nessa. Nessa has dark skin and short-cropped hair. This
girl has brown, messy hair and freckles, and she's weeping and
blubbering in a way that Nessa never would. Should I be
panicking more than I am? For a moment, I'm kind of relieved
that I can't see shit without my glasses. "I'm May."
"You're what?" the girl asks, her voice twangy with a
Southern accent. "May?"
Oh. Maybe that didn't make sense. "I'm Maylissa. Everyone
calls me May, though. Hi."
"Harlow," she replies and swipes at her nose. "Do…do you
know what's going on here?"
"Not really."
She leans in closer to me. "Are they bad guys?"
"I hope not," I whisper. "Because I don't have any
underpants."
Harlow gives a teary giggle. "Me either."
I start to laugh, too, and then we're both chuckling as we eat
our granola. It seems like such a stupid—but important—thing
to be upset over. Funnily enough, though, I do feel better being
able to laugh over things. "Where are you from?" I ask Harlow.
"I'm from Durham, but I don't think we're in North Carolina
because it's really cold."
"Arkansas," Harlow says. "Hot Springs." She sniffs her
waterskin, as if not sure if she can trust it, and then takes a sip.
"Where do you think we are?"
"Maybe the mountains?" I guess, though I'm not entirely sure.
If we are, how did we get here? And why are dragons here?
"Do you think we're safe?" Harlow asks me, worried.
I shrug because I really don't know. "I think if they were
going to kill us, they wouldn't be feeding us and giving us
blankets," I tell her since that's the most hopeful thing I can
think of.
"Oh good." She sounds cheered up by this. "Lordy, I was
about to pee in my non-existent pants at the thought of being
killed by dragons."
I smile at her words, though I'm not entirely sure we're safe.
Theodora and Zoe seem nice enough, but I can't help but think of
their eerily glowing eyes and the fact that there are only
two of them and a lot of big coloured males.
A few moments later, another girl comes to join us. She
stumbles as she falls into the furs, knocking the water out of
my hands and tripping over Harlow's blankets. "Sorry," she says
quickly.
"It's okay," I tell her as I scramble to pick up the water before
it can leak everywhere. Harlow and I help her sit upright and she
pulls her blankets close around her shoulders. "I'm Maylissa,
this is Harlow."
"I'm Sharon. Where are we?"
"Y'all's guess is as good as mine," Harlow declares.
"How many of us are there?" Sharon wants to know. "Are…
are all of these big black crates people?"
I think of the coffin thing I was pulled out of and squint over
in the direction where Liz and Harlow are busy. They're
surrounded by a few of the half-naked coloured guys. "How many
of them are there? I can't tell anything without my glasses."
Sharon huddles down next to me while Harlow gets to her feet,
counting. After a moment she sits down again and leans in
toward me. "I counted twenty. And they just pulled a pregnant
lady out of another one of them boxes."
Twenty people? Are they all like us, confused and naked?
What the heck is going on? Why are we here? What do these
dragons want with us?
Better yet, how do we get home?